This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out that we updated it for 2018.

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If you’ve ever been to New Mexico, you know it’s a beautiful place. The desert landscapes are some of the prettiest places in the country, and the mountain areas have some of the best outdoor activities in the entire southwest.

But is it all enchanting in the Land Of Enchantment? Of course not. Just like every other state, New Mexico has its trouble spots. The purpose of this post is to use science and data to determine which cities in New Mexico are the least desirable to live in.

Of course, you’ll most likely disagree if you see your town atop this list. But nonetheless, according to science, these cities are the worst places you could possibly live if you make New Mexico your home. These places need a big hug right about now.

After analyzing 32 of the state’s most populous cities (over 5,100 people), we came up with this list as the 10 worst places to live in New Mexico:

What? Where are these places you wonder? And before you get all riled up and say we’re picking on small town America, that’s not the case. We understand there’s a lot of good in every place.

However, according to data (which doesn’t measure things like beauty and ‘friendly people’), there are far better options in the state for making a place home. Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and see how your city fared in 2018.

We broke crime down into violent crime and property crime to give violent crime a larger weight — if you did a simple calculation of all crimes per capita, property crimes are normally 7x more common and really bias that ranking.

Furthermore, only cities with at least 5,100 people were considered — leaving 32 cities.

We then ranked each city from 1 to 32 for all the criteria with a #1 ranking being the worst for the particular criteria.

Next, we averaged the rankings into one ‘Worst Place To Live Score’.

Finally, we ranked every city on the ‘Worst Place To Live Score’ with the lowest score being the worst city in New Mexico — Belen. Read on for a detailed look at the 10 worst cities in New Mexico.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased.

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1. Belen

Population: 7,184Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)Home Values: $98,700 (7th worst)Unemployment Rate: 11.9% (4th worst)
Belen’s main issue is crime. It’s the 1st most dangerous place in the state of New Mexico. Is that a surprise?

If you live in Belen, you have a 1 in 13.4 chance that you’ll be the victim of a property crime. That’s really high, especially for a city of its size. That’s a lot of stolen lawn mowers, cell phones and cameras. Perhaps it’s because the folks here live in far nicer homes than some of the other cities to top this list. They’re targets.

The public schools are underfunded and the unemployment rate is far higher than the state average.

Belen is a half hour south of Albuquerque on I-25.

2. Deming

Population: 14,582Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)Home Values: $84,300 (4th worst)Unemployment Rate: 16.6% (1st worst)
When you’re looking at science and data, Deming is the 2nd worst place you can live in New Mexico. Let’s see why.

The unemployment rate here is 16.6%. That’s out of this world high. Located about 30 miles north of the Mexico border, there’s a good chance that many of the out-of-work residents are recent immigrants.

The average income for a household here is $26,044. According to the U.S. Census, the poverty level for a family of four is $24,600. So the people in Deming are barely making ends meet.

Crime, while not sky high, is still above average for the state, and there were two murders in this small city two years ago. And the public education system is rated very low in terms of the number of dollars spent per student.

Plus, what do you do for entertainment in Deming? It’s an hour west from Las Cruces on I-10. All there is to do for fun is shop at Walmart and eat Mexican food. Oh wait, there’s an annual duck contest in town every year!

Here’s what one person said about Deming on City-Data: ‘Lots of vacant and/or underutilized commercial property and storefronts, businesses closing, some fairly grim housing, it just seems to lose a little more air every time I’m through there.’

3. Anthony

Population: 9,459Rank Last Year: 3 (No Change)Home Values: $86,100 (5th worst)Unemployment Rate: 10.2% (9th worst)
Anthony is way down by El Paso, where people earn about $22,724 a year. The homes are a lot more expensive ($86,100). Meaning it’s even harder to live in Anthony at the poverty level.

4. Sunland Park

Population: 15,588Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 1)Home Values: $102,900 (9th worst)Unemployment Rate: 12.9% (3rd worst)
You can sure expect that Sunland Park is going to be a pretty rough place to live, it comes in 4th in our analysis. It is. In fact, Sunland Park has the 32nd-highest crime rate in the state. Probably no surprises there.

There were 24 violent crimes here in 2015, and residents have a 1 in 125.7 chance of being the victim of a property crime. That means, most likely, if you live in Sunland Park, either you or someone on your block had their home or car broken into last year.

You can also imagine that the economy here is in the pits — the unemployment rate sits at 12.9% which is the 3rd worst in New Mexico.

5. Grants

Population: 9,263Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 2)Home Values: $103,200 (10th worst)Unemployment Rate: 11.9% (4th worst)
When you’re looking at science and data, Grants is the 5th worst place you can live in the state of New Mexico. Let’s see why.

First off, the crime here is really high, in comparison to the rest of New Mexico. Grants is the 25th most dangerous place you can live in the state, where you have a 1 in 38.4 chance of being the victim of some type of property crime. Meaning lots of people are getting robbed here.

Homes here average $103,200, which is the 10th lowest in the state. You can defend ‘cheap living’ all you want, but the fact is, homes are priced by demand, and there’s not a lot of demand to live in Grants.

Income levels are just about $35,765, the 12th lowest in New Mexico.

When you add it all up, Grants really is quite an undesirable place to live. The people who have to live in here could use a big hug right about now.

6. Gallup

Population: 22,523Rank Last Year: 6 (No Change)Home Values: $132,000 (18th worst)Unemployment Rate: 7.9% (18th worst)
Say what you want about how beautiful Gallup might be. The fact is that the economy here is one of the worst in the state.

The unemployment rate rankss 18th highest in the state at 7.9%. Homes are the 18th lowest priced ($132,000), and the median income per household is just a tad over $38,646.

The fact is most of the people who live here are having a hard time making ends meet, when you consider their earned incomes and lack of jobs.

7. Socorro

Population: 8,760Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 3)Home Values: $114,700 (12th worst)Unemployment Rate: 8.2% (17th worst)
When you’re looking at science and data, the city of Socorro is the 7th worst place you can live in the state of New Mexico. Let’s see why.

You may be surprised to hear that the crime here is the 7th-highest in the state per capita, according to the FBI data base.

Residents in Socorro had a 1 in 18.4 chance of being robbed in 2014. To put things into perspective, since the average person has 300 friends on Facebook, if everyone you friended lived in Socorro, statistically, 25 of them would have been the victim of a property crime, meaning a home robbery, car break in or a stolen wallet.

Socorro’s other issues are a very high unemployment rate (8.2%) and income levels of its residents ($33,214).

8. Bernalillo

Population: 8,676Rank Last Year: 8 (No Change)Home Values: $147,400 (21st worst)Unemployment Rate: 11.2% (6th worst)
Out of all the places to live in New Mexico, Bernalillo ranks as the 8th worst — not something to brag about.

Bernalillo’s unemployment rate stands at 11.2%. While the income levels out here are some of the lowest in the state. Residents earn a combined $42,087 a year in salaries. That’s not enough to really get ahead in life.

Additionally, the homes are the 21st cheapest in the entire state at $147,400. Again, some people like the cheap cost of living, but housing is priced on demand, and the fact is, there’s not a lot of demand to live way out in Bernalillo. Plus, what do you do for fun here anyway?

Crime is the 10th worst in the state. You have a 1 in 22.1 chance of being robbed here and a 1 in 100 chance of being attacked or raped. Yikes.

9. Truth Or Consequences

Population: 6,157 Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 3)Home Values: $77,600 (2nd worst)Unemployment Rate: 9.3% (14th worst)
There’s probably not many people in New Mexico that would be surprised to see Truth Or Consequences on this list. In fact, if Truth Or Consequences wasn’t somewhere in the top 10, most people would start to wonder if our data was accurate.

Here are the statistics. Truth Or Consequences has the 21st worst crime rate in New Mexico. No surprises there. How dangerous is it though? There were almost 22 violent crimes in Truth Or Consequences in 2015. Residents here had a 1 in 279 chance of being killed, raped or attacked. Just wow.

The home values in Truth Or Consequences are the 2nd cheapest in the state ($77,600), the unemployment rate is the 14th highest (9.3%), and the annual household income is 5th lowest in New Mexico, at $26,844. That’s basically at the poverty level for a family of four.

37 thoughts on “These Are The 10 Worst Places To Live In New Mexico For 2018”

I strongly agree with you that Deming is the worst place in New Mexico! People claim Texas is a RED NECK state but they can not HOLD A CANDLE TO REDNECK DEMING NEW MEXICO!
If you were not born here or had relatives born and lived here all that move here are ignored and it is made hard to live in this RED NECK County of LUNA, It is not just Deming but the entire county of LUNA has this problem. Local Police wont enforce the law along with the Local States Attorney, if you need help for get both and consider the city and county the Old West of the 1800’S!!

I wholeheartedly agree that Deming is a terrible place to live. Meth and opiates has wiped out the community, along with poor education (I’m actually holding off on having children so I don’t have to educate them here). There is no zoning, so you have trailer parks mixed in with nice houses. The real estate market is overly saturated with overpriced homes, and the town is an absolute joke for any sort of mainstream commerce. It’s a terrible place to live. I’ve lived in actual cities, economically prosperous places, so I have a pretty good perspective on what a decent community should look like. Deming is like a third-world country where drugs and functional illiteracy are the order of the day. Anyone with half a brain around here longs for the day they can leave.

Read your list – some things that are almost impossible to quantify from
on-line statistics – long term unemployment, drug use, gangs. T or C has
unbelievably high long term unemployment – I’ve lived here for ten years
and I would estimate it at 50%. Sierra County, where T or C is located –
highest rate of prescription drug OD’s. A meaningless statistic, three
deaths in one year catapults us to the front because the overall population
of the county is so low. However, used hypodermic needles are common in
the parks, along the roads – they throw them out of their cars after they
use them. All medical facilities in T or C are under investigation by the
DEA for overprescribing prescription meds. On the plus side: T or C does
not have a gang problem. T or C is 45 minutes away from pristine national
forest and is surrounded by desert wilderness – you can be in city limits
and you would swear you are in a wilderness area. Like all small towns,
there is a core of really interesting people that grew up here, made
careers elsewhere and returned. Google “Delmas Howe”, “William Shofelt –
Shoofly”. Ted Turner is investing some money here – my wife works at his
hotel, the “Sierra Grande”.
All these little towns are constantly trying to figure out ways to “lift
themselves by their own bootstraps” (WWI expression?). Mostly they fail
because they are enamored of the big prize instead of “baby steps”
Thanks, Jim Jacobs

I grew up in the little colonia of Chaparral. Number 2 on your list. I had good solid friends, a big yard with a garden, and beautiful starry nights. There’s no substitute for the ability to live near nature, off fresh produce and chickens, and refreshing well water. We never had to lock our doors, either. Also, my education was just fine, thank you. I’ve been able to travel extensively and am working on my Masters. I loved growing up in Chaparral and I don’t appreciate your article.

My Sweetie and I have lived in Chaparral since 2009, and we love it! We bought two acres with two 2500+ sq. ft. houses (one excellent and one fixer-upper) for the price of a house half the size of either of our houses on less than 1/8th of the land in El Paso. Our neighbors are much better than any El Paso neighbors I’ve ever had (I’m not saying that all El Paso neighbors are bad, just the ones who lived next to me). It’s nice and quiet out here, and we can actually see the stars.

As you said, your list is an opinion based on data. However, some of your base assumptions are questionable. You rank population density as your first criteria, claiming that is an indicator of “things to do.” We live in T or C, and there is more to do here than in many larger towns, like Socorro. School rankings are also misleading. Our small school system has teams (Envirothon, 4-H, ROTC etc.) that consistently place high in state competitions. Envirothon team is currently competing at the National level.
Anyone can pull data off the Internet and make lists of best or worst places. But without actually visiting these places and getting to know the areas, these lists are nothing more than quasi-scientific opinions.

I live in Socorro and we really enjoy going to TorC to soak in the waters or to go antiquing. It’s a quirky, yet charming little place. I was surprised Socorro did not make this list. Our drug problem is just awful. It’s not a very pretty town. Our city council bows to the mayor who is just setting up his own life for when he retires. There’s not a whole lot of pride going on here; no pride in mothers and fathers caring for their kids, no pride in homes, no pride in school life… God bless the people that try out here. There’s more scuzzy people that ruin it for everyone else than there are quality people that try to make Socorro nice.

This is the part that I don’t get…
Socorro is full of “skuzzy” residents so let’s blame the mayor?….
Ahh, NOOO, let’s not..
And have you actually ever attended a city council meeting? My guess is NOOO… cause if you did, you would know council members do not “bow down” to the mayor… In fact, it’s quite the opposite…
So here’s my favorite part and what compelled me to respond to this –
“The mayor who is just setting up his own life for when he retires” ….
Um tell us again how this is a bad thing and something Socorro residents should not all strive to achieve.?
I will admit that Socorro is not the best place to live and I am not active in any political scenes but blaming someone or anything for not being content with a town you so freely reside/resided in, is 100% wrong. In fact I give this man much do credit for taking on such a community and it’s “scuzzy” residents and perhaps if more residents were to follow in this mans lead they too would have stronger working skills, exceptional dedication, quality leadership abilities and still find time to raise lawyers, teachers, famous music producers and so on.
One can only wish of achieving such accomplishments so before labeling all residents of Socorro “skuzzy”, I’ll remind you that you too live(d) there..

I lived in Chaparral and raised my children in this tight knit community. You’re comments about Chaparral are completely off. My kids are all adults and doing well. They grew up with horses, gardens and close friends. El Paso Is a wonderful place with MANY things to do. We had the best of both worlds a small town feel with a large city only minutes away.

I was a little shocked that Clovis was not on the list, until I saw the criteria used to rank communities. The criteria are primarily economic and there is no attempt at evaluating the local natural environment (nor the local cultural environment). Given the flat dusty hellscape without a hill or river in sight that is the Clovis area, along with its nasty conservative Christian streak, there are several communities on this list I would choose over Clovis. Let me out.

While I have lived in T or C for over 20 years and have purchased a fair amount of property, I have to say…… the climate is pretty nice, the people also. But the place has a sizeable dose of dispair. Poverty and unemployment and low expectations. Drugs are real. I guess it depends on what’s important to you. We have some nice school buildings but like most of NM their results are very disappointing. Most of our young people are voting with their feet.

UMMMM Deming has LOTS to do. We have Starmaxx that is a movie theater, bowlling alley, arcade, and indoor glow in the dark putt putt golf. We also have Rockhound state park and the Florida mountians to explore. This small town also usuall has an event several weekend’s a month for the community to enjoy.

Everything ebbs and flows. A city that was bad one year could be on the best list the next year. New Mexico is beautiful and very unique. The weather cannot be beat by a long shot. The culture is incredible. I have lived here my entire life and have never -knock on wood- been the victim of a crime. Just don’t have thugs for friends or hang out with questionable people. I do encourage my kid to get the best education possible in case he wants to leave here, that is his choice. Like anything else in life, you get out what you put into it, so if you put your all into your schooling you will do just fine.

Wheres roswell its my home town yet. Theres lots crime shootings alot. Belen isnt a bad town.If i had stayed in roswell my kids wouldve been proably in trouble alot. Peer pressure alot there. My kids have there own families and doing great. We lived in belen 12 years great place.

REALLY?!!? That’s all you have to say about Tucumcari?? And we are the worse place to live??
If you’re going to put down our town, you could at least share the positive too.
I Moved from Hawaii to Tucumcari. Been here for about 8 years. Crime is waaayyy less and less dangerous than most places I’ve been. Especially abq, I would never want to live there.
Small town living is awesome. Less traffic and less stress.
AND You won’t ever see a Mass Shooting here, now that’s a fact.

I Personally think Aztec, NM is one of the Worst town’s in New Mexico. The town its self is a strict white zone only, so no diversity and I say about 93 percent of the town are no good racist red necks. There has been many reports of kkk clans and gangs in the town, and a lot of kids are put threw abuse in the town. Many of the young adults in the town have been know to believe in the devil and at the high school has also been know to take place in many different satanic rituals. It also has the one of highest rates for teen suicides throughout the whole state. Growing up in Farmington, NM the biggest city in the San Jusn County. Having Aztec in Farmington’s metro range was ok. Farmington, NM is a great city, it has so many things to offer everyone, being one of the leading shopping hubs in New Mexico and being the leading shopping hub to the four corners ( 350,000 people ). It is also the fastest growing city in Construction rates and one of the fastest Population growing cities in New Mexico. The neighborhood I grew up in was located in the North East side of Farmington, the neighborhood was a safe and gated community. I attended Piedra Vista High School, one of the best high schools in New Mexico with a student count of 1,672, I loved it there the school has an amazing tennis team and owns a golf course with the collage, the median household income in the 87402 zip code community is 173,000 dollars, and average household income is 92,000 dollars a year. Now I have my own house in the country club and have an amazing job as an architect.

NOONES racist idiot so calm down and don’t bring politics into this but since you have , you most likely are a Hillary blind sheep supporter that will always keep your shitty state down so be it ! Lmfao the natives in your state are pathetic and have proven to be . Self serving lazy lowlives etc…so chill out psycho

I have lived in NM for many years, (mostly in the NW area) and I find NM very beautiful and the people are very pleasant and helpful (I’m originally from Northern IL). I have traveled extensively through NM from Las Cruces to Pie Town to Socorro to Roswell, to Hobbs to Taos, to Albuquerque to Pinehill, to Ramah to Tucumcari to Raton to Gallup to Zuni. People have always been nice and helpful. I realize that there are issues in NM as there are everywhere, in every state. But that doesn’t give somebody the right to call out a whole race of people and say that they are ” ghetto” and “lazy” as a woman did at the beginning of this comment section. Those types of remarks displays HER IGNORANCE. Thank you.

Me and my husband live in be leaving en ,we love it here ,we have been here only two months every one that we have meant is friendly and helpful I ts a beautiful little town i see no problem with racism

I’ve been an Albuquerque resident for just one year. It’s been a very big disappointment.

A lot of crime (and not enough police to fix it), dangerous and rude drivers on the road, we’re #1 in the USA for auto thefts, and for the past 2 months I’ve noticed gunshots being fired in my neighborhood at night (east end of Menaul area). That’s why I’m checking this website.

We moved here 2 1/2 yrs. ago. My wife loves it. I feel that “living” in NM is more like doing time. Why keep building more federal prisons when we have NM? Offenders could
be sentenced to live here. And we live in Rio Rancho which is supposed to be one of the best places in the state. If that’s the case, I shudder to imagine the worst……..

Welcome to Clovis, NM (88101) where peaceful farming community meets sleepy border town. Don’t be fooled by the propaganda; it’s all smoke and mirrors!
This town is horrible! Public utilities are overly expensive, and unreliable. Power fluctuations and winter outages are a familiar occurrence. Internet service often slows to a crawl. Medical care is appalling! Stated again for emphasis; medical care is appalling! One more time; medical care is appalling! Fearful, wise, and experienced residents routinely drive for hours to seek treatment elsewhere. Quality shopping and entertainment are a fantasy. Good luck finding a descent radio station that plays something other than Country music. Dining is a boring monotony of Mexican food. Housing is grossly overpriced, and poorly built; corners seem to be cut at every opportunity. Building codes are weak, and unconvincingly enforced. Businesses are unfairly opportunistic, and prey upon the population. Slums and slumlords abound. Public and private lands are laden with trash and debris. Animal control is a laughable. City roads seem to be willfully neglected, and filled with potholes. Many intersections are insufficiently marked, or completely uncontrolled. Local media seems biased and agenda driven. There’s no need to mention the “honesty and integrity” of the local politicians, city officials, law enforcement, or lawyers; I’m sure you can probably imagine.
The community is horrible! Most of the townspeople are rude, thoughtless, self-consumed, and flippantly ignore the concepts of courteous coexistence and safe driving. It’s hard to say what’s worse, the self-importance of the Christians, or the overwhelming poverty of the “un-documented” workforce. The pretentious white collar workers are the committed puppets of the wealthy property and business owners. Blue collar workers are noticeably undereducated, and poorly trained. Skilled labor is virtually non-existent. Pride in workmanship is a completely foreign concept. Substance abuse is excessive. The public schools seem to breed a disproportionate number of thugs and dropouts. Teen pregnancy is commonplace. The crime and drug problem almost seem to be purposely undisclosed, and concealed from the public eye. Nevertheless, stories of violent home invasion, rape, armed robbery, burglary, auto theft, and vandalism abound amongst the townsfolk. Meth labs and gangbangers saturate the community, and sex offenders sadly seem to be everywhere. Many businesses post disclaimers stating no responsibility for valuables left in parked vehicles, while at the same time allowing “sales-people” to attach advertisements to vehicles in their parking lot (even though attaching such advertisements to vehicles is against city code). Ladies, NEVER let go of your purse when you go shopping!
The environment is horrible! Dirt, dust, and tumbleweeds driven by 50+ MPH winds are the norm. Any meaningful rainfall is normally accompanied by destructive winds or damaging hail. The town’s water supply is drying up. Extreme water hardness ruins appliances and plumbing fixtures. The fluoride concentration in the city’s drinking water exceeds the healthy level recommended by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; however the fluoride concentration in the city’s drinking water is conveniently below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s enforceable limit. Can you say dental & skeletal fluorosis? Prairie dogs infest both business and residential areas. Flies from the nearby dairies and cattle yards are a disgusting nuisance. One last thing, let’s not forget the nauseating repulsive stench of sunbaked cow manure that consumes every breath in the summer which eventually culminates in a fine layer of dried-up cow manure dust that coats nostrils, lungs, and every surface in the home. Welcome to seasonal allergies! On the lighter side, many people who grew up in Clovis, NM love the place, and mindlessly think its paradise. Go figure…
In conclusion, perhaps the preceding comments should be deemed nothing more than a point of view. However, consider that HomeFacts.com reports the 2011 statistics for forcible rape and burglary in Clovis, NM at 200% above the national average! CriminalCheck.com can also provide a list of registered sex offenders. If you have any doubts I strongly urge you to do research, or simply ignore what you’ve just read, move to Clovis, NM, and join the herd. If you are not part of the pack, you are the prey. You have been warned!

I just turned down a 6 figure job in ABQ. I lived there (ABQ) in the early 2000s and pretty much liked it. Now that Im older with a family, ABQ is a harder sell. If housing in ABQ was a little lower to match the economy there, then it would be attractive. However the crime is what stopped me. When I was living there in early mid 2000s my boss had a violent break in where the burglars held a knife to his wife. We have visited several times just recently to get a feel for it again. What I noticed is the amount of speeding on the interstate. Its pretty dangerous. Ive read articles about how the police have no resources for traffic calls.

What it came down to was I dont feel safe anywhere east of the rio grande (NE heights) and the drive to work from rio rancho or cedar crest would be too far.

So I turned down a six figure job in ABQ. (I could do it because I already have a six figure job where Im at, which currently has eveything on this websites list as a good place to live… Top schools, low crime, good jobs, low poverty.)

I can always visit NM and spend some money there and help out the tourism, but I feel safer where I currently live.

People over do it I was born and raised in Albuquerque NM and never had a problem with gangs or thief’s I love my city and who ever don’t like it hear could get the hell out of my city you cry baby haters 505 burque city come down and visit don’t believe all this drama queens about what they say about Albuquerque there full of shit and scared little fruit cakes

As a criminologist, and a two time resident of New Mexico, soon to be third, this is some of the most distorted information I have ever seen. You missed some towns, by the way. All towns have good and bad places and areas. Those that party or live the loose life are the ones that get mugged, robbed, or die. Those that live in gated communities do the same, and never get busted. Small places and rate changes in crime are meaningless. You should visit these places before degrading them. I, for one, would NEVER live in the deep south again.